Islamic leader vows to stay in Somalia
By NASTEEX DAHIR FARAH Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press
KISMAYO, Somalia — Somalia's Islamic leader vowed Friday to continue the fight against Ethiopia.
"We will not leave Somalia," Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, the executive leader of the Council of Islamic Courts told The Associated Press. "We will not run away from our enemies. We will never depart from Somalia. We will stay in our homeland."
He spoke from the southern coastal port of Kismayo, where his forces retreated after abandoning the capital Mogadishu, which they had held for six months.
The Islamic movement had taken control of much of southern Somalia, often without fighting, after defeating a coalition of warlords to capture Mogadishu in June. But its fighters collapsed when Ethiopia, which has the most powerful army in the region, sent reinforcements across the border to help Somalia's internationally recognized government.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi had vowed Thursday to crush fighters he described as extremists in the Islamic movement and their foreign allies, predicting it would take a few weeks longer.
Ahmed's movement had pledged to bring Quranic law to Somalia, and some of its members espoused an extreme form of Islam. The United States accuses the movement of harboring al-Qaida terrorists.
